With miners apparently not dying at a fast enough rate, the Bushbrains "outsource" the job of point man in the crusade against mine safety

I'm not sure I would even have noticed this item—the NYT seems to have slipped in an AP account yesterday, while the Washington Post buried it on page A9 today—if Rachel Maddow hadn't called attention to it on her Air America Radio show this morning.

She was following up on her prediction that, with mine-industry shill Richard Stickler still unconfirmed and possibly unconfirmable by the Senate to head the Labor Deparment's Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Bush administration would use yet another recess appointment to sneak him into the job. Well, they didn't do that. They did something even sleazier: issued a contract with a man who can't legally do the job to do it as an "adviser." It seems he's been on the job for a week.

Well, nobody ever accused the Bush administration of doing things by halves. On mine safety, it is apparently unyielding in its courageous crusade—against. Hey, it doesn't matter how many miners die in mine accidents, or how often those very mines have been cited for safety violations despite the virtual dismantling of the inspection process. (After all, if the government were serious about those citations, wouldn't it attempt to enforce them, like maybe even collect some of the piddling fines assessed?) Just like it doesn't matter how many miners sicken and die from workplace-related health problems. After all, where the mines are, there are zillions of guys dying for these jobs other guys are dying from.

All that matters is that nothing be done to interfere with mine profits.